PERMANENT MISSION
OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE TO THE UNITED NATIONS

245
East 49th Street • New York, NY 10017

ADDRESS
BY THE VICE PRESIDENT
OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE

HIS
EXCELLENCY MR. SOLOMON E. BEREWA

TO
THE 58TH SESSION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

THURSDAY, 25TH SEPTEMBER 2003 NEW YORK

Mr. President,

My delegation wishes to congratulate
you very warmly on your assumption of the Presidency of this world body,
and to assure you of its unflinching and continued support for a successful
tenure. We would also. like to extend to your predecessor our appreciation
for successfully directing the affairs of the General Assembly during
one of the most trying periods in the recent history of the United nations.

Mr. President,

On August 19, 2003, the United Nations
was shocked to its foundation by a fatal bomb attack on its headquarters
in Baghdad. On behalf of my President and the Government and people
of Sierra Leone, I extend deepest condolences to the United Nations
Secretary General, the United Nations family and the families of all
those that perished in that attack. They died for the cause of peace
and humanity and the values and aspirations that the UN symbolizes.

We call on all members of the UN
and other nations to spear no measures to respect the sanctity of the
UN, because it is only when this sanctity is respected that the UN can
fulfill its responsibilities to mankind.

Mr. President,

The bulk of the poor and deprived
people of the world live in Africa, bedeviled by hunger, diseases, mass
illiteracy, ignorance, civil conflict, extreme poverty, bad governance,
abuse of human rights, inadequate educational opportunities, gender
inequality, environmental hazards, poor transport and communications
facilities and debt. The New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD,
embodies the vision of Africans themselves to rid their continent of
these perils and enjoy a standard of living befitting the twenty-first
century. These goals are also in consonance with those of the Millennium
Development Declaration.

My delegation believes that the
world will be a better, happier, more tolerant and peaceful place if
these two impressive declarations are delivered.

We also believe that to achieve
these goals, we have to come down from the lofty platform of rhetoric
to the practical reality of sincere, honest and sacrificial partnership
and collaboration between the "haves" and "have-nots".
Tangible result is the acid test of the sincerity and honesty of this
partnership and collaboration.

My delegation wishes to reaffirm Sierra Leone's commitment
to the pursuance of the goals of these two development blueprints as
the most credible and realistic channels and guidelines for accelerated
development.

But we, the poor countries, execute
these laudable blueprints with convulsive trepidation, because of the
devastating effect of the dreadful HIV/AIDS which, without universal
effort, is bound to cancel and even reverse all development gains. In
the light of this, my delegation proposes that anti-retroviral drugs
be made available, as a matter of human right, to everyone everywhere
that may need it.

Mr. President,

Sierra Leone has in- recent years
repeatedly reiterated her faith in the United Nations as the only organization
that can hold this crisis-ridden world together. My delegation wishes
to reaffirm this faith, a faith built on the conviction that the strength
of the organization is collective action.

As we are all aware, deviating from
this principle of collective action can subject the UN to tremendous
strain; it can even hamstrung the organization, and the hard evidence
is that it can leave us a weak and divided family. My delegation calls
on all nations, big and small, rich and poor, to uphold this principle
as the organization's driving force.

Mr. President,

Unity of purpose and collective
action of the UN are even more imperative in the context of the ever-increasing
demands on it by numerous conflicts and humanitarian crises in the world
to which it has to respond. The expansion and complexity of these challenges
reinforce the need for collaboration and partnership with continental
and regional organizations, such as the African Union and the Economic
Community of West African States, for resolving crises. It is the considered
view of my delegation that such collaboration and partnership, designed
and financially and materially facilitated, can respond to conflicts
and other crisis much more speedily and productively than a distant,
overstretched UN alone can. We are of the firm conviction that the hundreds
of thousands of lives that have been lost in the West African sub-region,
especially in Sierra Leone and Liberia, would have been saved if such
a functional relationship, predicated on proactive conflict prevention,
had existed between the UN and ECOWAS.

Mr. President,

Two of the most worrying challenges
to peace are terrorism and proliferation of arms, including weapons
of mass destruction. We unreservedly deplore terrorism in all its forms
and manifestation, and re affirm our commitment to resolving differences
and conflicts through non-violent means.

Of special concern to Sierra Leone
is the proliferation of small arms in the West African sub-region. While
a multi-prong strategy to rid Sierra Leone of small weapons, including
an Arms for Development project, spearheaded by the UNDP, has yielded
encouraging and hopeful results, we believe only a concerted regional
approach that carries genuine, selfless political will can eliminate
this scourge from the region.

Mr. President,

The Government and people of Sierra
Leone have accepted the challenge to recover from the scourge of the
war and re-engage the path of development. Accordingly, a comprehensive
national recovery programme has been designed in response to post- conflict
rehabilitation and reconstruction needs, as well as to lay the foundation
for addressing the issues that generated the conflict.

A priority component of the recovery
process is the consolidation of democratic governance. Preparations
for nationwide local government elections are in the ultimate stages.
We attach considerable significance to these elections because they
will constitute the major step in the process of decentralization, around
which the scheme of our participatory governance is going to revolve.

In order to tackle some of the root
causes that created the wedge between the people and successive governments,
which partly caused the conflict, we have embarked on a fundamental
governance reform programme that involves the judiciary, the public
service, human rights, accountability and transparency, local government,
and tackling corruption and abuse of power.

Mr. President,

We have made remarkable progress
in the area of security, which is the prerequisite for our national
revival and development. An International Military Advisory and Training
Team, led by the United Kingdom, has provided training that has considerably
enhanced the professional competence of our armed forces. With this
training has come renewed confidence in the armed forces as indicated
by the nationwide deployment of the personnel.

With support from the Government
of the United Kingdom our police force has also been trained, restructured
and equipped to carry out its responsibilities.

But with war anywhere in the sub-region,
Sierra Leone never feels safe and secure. That is why we welcome, with
profound appreciation to ECOWAS and the UN, the initiative to set the
region on a path to peace.

My delegation feels that while welcoming
the relief provided by positive developments in the: Liberian peace
process, we are duty bound to urge the international community never
to fall again into complacency about conflicts as they did in the case
of Liberia.

Mr. President,

My delegation is very conscious
of the heavy investment of the UN and the international community that
has yielded the peace Sierra Leone now enjoys: The momentum to consolidate
the hard-won peace and embark on meaningful course of development is
our highest priority. That is why we whole-heartedly welcome the Security
Council's phased programme for withdrawal of UNAMSIL based on the capacity
of our security forces to discharge their functions and the overall
security environment in Sierra Leone and the sub-Region

Mr. President,

I am happy to report that one of
our major post-conflict accomplishments is the re-establishment of civil
authority all over the country. Legal and judicial and law enforcement
administrations have been reactivated in parts of the country previously
under rebel occupation; schools, health and other social facilities
are being rehabilitated and reopened.

On the economic front, the Certificate
of Origin Regime for export of diamonds is producing positive results,
as proceeds from the sale of diamonds continue to rise steadily. New
areas of alluvial diamond deposits have been discovered and prospection
for kimberlite deposits continues. Various regulatory procedures including legislation
and expert advice are in the pipeline to curtail illegal exploitation
and to ensure that Sierra Leoneans derive the benefit they deserve from
this resource.

Mr. President,

Two transitional bodies, the Special
Court to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for the human
rights excesses in the war, and The Truth and Reconciliation commission
for victims and perpetrators of the abuses to tell their stories, thus
laying the foundation for healing, reconciliation and forgiveness, are
on course to achieve their objectives.

The future -of the- Fifty-seven
thousand ex-combatants is a major factor in the management of: he costly
peace that is so' relished today in Sierra Leone. The process of re
- absorbing these people into society as law-abiding, peaceful, productive
and patriotic citizens has been slow, tedious, and expensive. But we
have had to attempt this character transformation exercise as a conflict
relapse, prevention mechanism.

With this reorientation, our governance
reform programme and sound youth policy that make- the excombatants
and other youths stakeholders in society, the possibility of resorting
to violence and destruction as the only way to demonstrate grievance
and resolve conflict has been reduced.

Our other area of grave concern
is the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of children who, because
of the war, missed opportunities for education. The magnitude of the
problem is such that we have had to form a special commission for war
affected children.

Mr. President,

Let me conclude by reassuring the
United Nations that the heavy investment for peace in Sierra Leone has
not, and will never go in vain. We are determined to do whatever we
can to protect and consolidate the peace for which we have all sacrificed
so much. We fully recognize our responsibility as the model of success
of UN peace keeping.

We wish to give the same reassurance
to our many friends for their wonderful contributions in various forms
over the years. These include the British, Chinese, American, Nigerian
and Guinean Governments and the European Union.